I walked up to the top floor of the house where my parents’ bedroom was on one side and a room with a turned off TV was in the other. I held my hand up to the PS4 and noticed that it was extremely hot. Someone had forgotten to turn it off as it was perpetually stuck on the main menu of a romcom DVD. I received a Facebook notification on my phone: it was an invitation to meet at the docks behind campus in 15 minutes or risk “miss[ing] the boat”.

We followed my dad running through the alleys into a hotel. I had a feeling that I had been here a long time ago. As I walked through the glass doors, I actively avoided what seemed to be a prospective student holding a Reed pamphlet. I went to get a drink of water from the dispenser and it wasn’t until someone commented on how thirsty I seemed that I realized I didn’t have anything to drink since noon.

It was getting dark and I wanted to find my way back home. I ran through 9th street of the residential block until I hit the main road, made a left and ran some more. I thought I saw someone familiar on my way. When I turned left once again, I found myself on 2nd street. The houses here had walls around their gardens, the trees were overgrown, and parts of the street were crossed with chains.

We were playing a Civilization-esque board game and since it was my first time, when it came to my turn I asked, “Do I move first?” I hesitantly hovered my hand over my player-piece. “Well you tell me” my father responded. I looked at the player card for guidance and it seemed to be the case that I do move first. The card also mentioned the “Dollar of Shame” for someone who settled on the island in the middle of the big lake in the center of the map. “Central Japan” was a rather unbalanced starting location that no one took if they wanted to be respected by the other players.

I was playing as the Scout on a payload map and I heard the footsteps of a Spy nearby. I looked around frantically and picked up a chipped blade to defend myself.

She showed me the test that she was retaking and asked me “Is this okay?” I told her that she could use as much space as she needed and needn’t be afraid of running out of paper to write on. I pulled out my copy to inform her that my exam was over 10 pages long.

As I was walked into the house, I looked through the doorway at the end of the hall. Someone chucked a severed arm down a trapdoor before swiftly slamming it shut. “And this is what you do with the the toes” they said as they picked up a body by the ankle. I backed up and walked out of a glass door to my left only to be followed my someone dragging yet another body while crawling on the floor. “I’m going to punch him” he threatened, “and before that I’m going to punch you.”

We had agreed to take a taxi home together after class. When we were dismissed, the teacher requested to talk to him. She wanted to see the cat that he had brought in toast box with him. “What a waste of a friend”, he muttered while he opened the lid to reveal a black kitten inside. The cat’s left front leg seemed to have been injured.

We were playing Starcraft and someone said how they “never knew units were so cheap” because they never had a proper economy. A few people began to imitate various vocielines from the game with the most noticeable being: " Ready to roll out! " (Seige Tank), " Jacked up and good to go! " (Marine), " Gau’gurah! " (Zealot).

I was sitting in the mall with my mother when I received a snapchat from a friend in Korea. Apparently the streets there were flooded as I watched a car turning onto a road that was already knee-deep under water. I also received news that the streets of Taipei were flooded to a similar degree.